Page 456 - Week 02 - Wednesday, 15 February 2017
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
The government did not agree to conduct a review. They just noted it. They are too busy talking about other things. But when it comes to community safety here, when it comes to something that could be done, when it is being pushed for by those on the front line, all we get is “Noted”. They actually said that they need to wait until other reviews are done in other jurisdictions. Reviews are being done in other jurisdictions, notably in Victoria, and it is timely and prudent to do so.
I am not calling for specific reforms. I am being careful to make sure that as I call for this review I am not prejudicing that review by saying that it needs to do X or it needs to do Y. We need to get an expert to have a look at it, an independent review, to consider the evidence being put forward by the DPP, by the Victims of Crime Commissioner, by victims themselves, by the police and by others on the front line to consider whether our bail laws and the application of those laws are the best they can be.
Essentially, by rejecting this motion today what we are saying, what we would be saying, as an Assembly, is, “No, there is nothing to worry about here. Our bail could not be better in the ACT. Nothing is going wrong with it.” To say that is an absolute nonsense. We know that there are significant problems with the application of bail here in the ACT.
Just yesterday, following media coverage, I received a call into my office—and my staff took the call—from the father of a victim of an alleged sexual assault committed, as he said, by a person on bail. We did some preliminary research that would appear to validate these concerns. These are the sorts of concerns that we hear about in the community. When people are sexually assaulted, when we see issues of domestic violence and other serious crimes committed by perpetrators who are on bail, I think that must give us pause for thought.
We should in the Assembly say, “Are we doing everything that we can? Are our bail laws operating in the best way that they can to keep our community safe?” The view of the grieving father who rang my office yesterday was that certainly they are not operating as they should. They did not protect a father’s child against an assault.
There will be mixed views when it comes to the operation of bail in the ACT. I am aware of that from the Bar Association, many of whose members represent people before the courts applying for bail, from people in the legal fraternity, from people who have been convicted or are put on bail themselves—they have views—but there should be a review that considers all of the evidence, that is prepared to examine the operation of bail laws, that looks at what is being done interstate in terms of their reviews and learning where we are doing things wrong, where there is room for improvement. It is the responsibility of our community—and there is no greater responsibility for us as parliamentarians and as a government—to keep our community safe.
This is not a kneejerk reaction in terms of one incident. This is not some sort of political pointscoring. This has been a call in many ways that has had bipartisan support. It has enjoyed bipartisan support from the Assembly, from the committee. It
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video